British spies 'very close' to identifying 'jihadi John'

Intelligence chiefs use sophisticated voice recognition technology to identify
the British jihadist who executed James Foley

By Martin Evans, and Philip Sherwell

6:49PM BST 24 Aug 2014

British intelligence agents believe they have identified ‘jihadi John’ after employing sophisticated voice recognition technology, the British ambassador to the US has revealed.

Officers from MI5 and MI6 have been working closely with specialists at the Government’s listening station at GCHQ and are now said to be “very close” to putting a name to the Briton who beheaded American photojournalist James Foley last week.

But Peter Westmacott, the UK’s ambassador to Washington, also warned that the threat from home grown jihadists would not disappear once he was identified and caught.

He revealed that among the 70 militants who had been arrested after returning from Syria, a number of them were found to be carrying instructions for “very specific missions” to unleash terrorist outrages on British soil.

His warnings came as Home Secretary Theresa May came under increasing pressure to declare any British members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) stateless and remove their British passports.

Intelligence experts on both sides of the Atlantic have spent the past few days poring over the sickening Isil video which shows a jihadist with a British accent beheading Mr Foley.

With his features hidden under a black hood, the main focus has been on his distinctive voice, said to bear the hallmarks of a south London accent.

Using highly sophisticated voice recognition technology they have compared his hate fuelled rant on the video with clips from other British Islamic extremists and now believe they are close to have a 100 per cent match.

Speaking in Washington, Mr Westmacott revealed: “I think we are close. I have been in touch obviously in the last day or two with my colleagues at home.

Islamic State released a video online purporting to show the beheading of US journalist James Foley, who went missing in Syria in 2011

“We’re not yet in position to say exactly who this is but there is some very sophisticated voice ID technology and other measures that we have got which should allow us to be very clear about who this person is before very long.”

But he stressed that the fight against the Isil militants had just begun and problems would only increase as hardened and desensitised fighters started to return.

He said: “Let me underline that this is a threat in a whole different series of ways to us. It is a threat to our citizens, British, American and others in the region. It is a threat to the stability of those countries.

“But it is a threat also in terms of returning radicalised jihadists who have left our countries, not just Britain but many other countries, and who are coming back with very specific missions and with instructions sometimes to create acts of terror at home.

“Which is why in the UK for example over the last year we’ve picked up around 70 different people on terrorism-related offences to do with activities in Iraq and Syria so we are very conscious of the threat that there is back at home.”

He added: “We are doing a very complex operation in terms of trying to identify, detect and obstruct terrorist activity by individuals going to and coming back from the region. We are using diplomacy, we are using development funds, we are using military strengths and equipment.”

But former shadow Home Secretary David Davies was among a growing number of commentators who are calling for Isil fighters to have their British nationality withdrawn.